There is an old hymn that has been stuck in my head this past weekend. The words are:
My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I love Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree;
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I love Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I'll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,
If ever I love Thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
If I am really paying attention to these words…it is hard not to be overcome with emotion. Jesus has done so much for me and for you…and these lyrics remind us of all the pain and suffering He endured on the cross so that we could be forgiven. With Good Friday coming up this week…I can’t think of a better song to have on our mind.
As I’ve mulled over these words, they’ve made me wonder if we often make discipleship training too difficult and, as a result, we have many Christians going through life not having a clue as to what a truly devoted follower of Christ should look like. To me this is tragic and very disturbing. We have Christians who look no different than those who do not profess to have a relationship with Him. They are attending the same movies, watching the same television shows, telling the same jokes, cheating on their spouse and backstabbing at work to move up the ladder. With their mouth they acknowledge their Savior, but their actions don’t back up their words.
What we need to emphasize to followers of Christ is that their responsibility is to concentrate on their relationship with Him. If the relationship with their Jesus is not where it should be, then fruit will not be seen in their life. Now at this point you may be thinking, “Well duh LuAnn, everybody knows that!” Do they? Do you? Do I?
Let me explain. If we really believe the words to the song I included, then our walk should prove it. If we truly love our Jesus and desire to turn all of our sin over to Him, then that should be our guide as to how we live. When we get up in the morning, if we truly love our Jesus, then there should be no place for mistreating our spouse or our children. If we truly love our Jesus, then we should never desire to step on other people in our workplace just to obtain a higher status. If we truly love our Jesus, then we should never desire to attend a function where we know Jesus would not approve. If we truly love our Jesus, then the thought of cheating on our spouse should never enter our mind. If we truly love our Jesus, our priorities and our schedule should be an outgrowth of our love for Him.
What we fail to realize is that the choices we make each day, make it obvious to others what condition our relationship with Him is in. No one has to be a rocket scientist to see whether we truly love our Jesus or not, just by listening to our words and watching our actions. Not only does it show others whether or not we love Him, it also refutes all the excuses that we can muster. No longer can we blame our parents, our children, our church or our friends for our behavior, because they are not responsible for our relationship with our Jesus; only we are.
How much do we love Jesus today? Maybe a better question would be, “Do others know how much we love our Jesus?” If they don’t, then maybe we need to re-think our priorities and make some changes in our schedule this week. When the right choices are made, we can then sing without reservation, “If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, ‘tis NOW.”
Don’t forget, if you would like to join me in my study of the book of James, you can find my YouTube channel, Image Seeker, at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0szlDSgNBtFuzzNLBWzwMA. I posted another teaching video this morning, “Faith and/or Works…Do I Need Both?” Check it out!
If you would like encouraging thoughts to help you in your daily walk with Jesus, check out and “Like” my new Facebook page, “Image Seeker”…you can find it at https://www.facebook.com/Image-Seeker-109914611136211/news_feed.
And, if you aren’t on Facebook but would still like to see encouraging posts and notices of new videos…”Follow” me on Instagram. Just search for “theimageseeker”
No comments:
Post a Comment